Thursday, October 30, 2014

BY TONY GONZALES @ TENNESSEANTHE ENTIRE CITY OF NASHVILLE tops a new list of endangered historic places announced today by the Tennessee Preservation Trust.

By
being named to the "Ten from Tenn" list, the sites across the state
will get more attention this year, and perhaps new protections, as
preservationists deal with the kinds of tensions familiar in Nashville.

"Growth
brings a lot of opportunities around every corner," said Tim Walker,
head of the Metro Historic Zoning Commission. "Preservation and
development can go hand-in-hand, but we need to make some tough
decisions. And do we want to allow everything to be demolished? Its
sense of place? If you lose that unique architecture to our city, you
don't know where you are, and you're kind of faceless."

An iconic
landmark of the civil rights movement, historic schools, mansions and
mills, and a well-known hotel and railroad station, are also on this
year's list.

Nominated by preservationists across the state, the
chosen list identifies properties that the trust will try to protect in
the coming year, including by pursuing grants or protective ordinances.
"When
the economy turned around, and dollars started to flow, that can be a
boon to historic resources, and other times that can be a threat," said
David Currey, trust executive director.
Currey said a string of
high-profile disputes over historic Nashville sites — Studio A,
Printer's Alley and the Cordell Hull building among them — prompted the
trust to make its declaration.
He said the city has an
inconsistent "preservation ethic," leaving a spotty track record. The
trust also cited deterioration, development, the push for a denser urban
core and too few protective measures as threats.

City
officials countered that Nashville has twice as many protected
properties as other large cities in Tennessee, and a capable historical
commission.

"As Nashville faces pressures that come with the
unprecedented population and job growth it is experiencing today, we
will continue to improve public land use policies to provide a balance
between historic preservation, sustainable development, walkable
communities, transportation needs, economic growth and affordable
living," said Doug Sloan, deputy planning commission director.
Last year, the trust brought national attention to some of its endangered sites, including the Cordell Hull state building and the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg. The 1878 Moye-Green home in Portland, Tenn., benefited from a state grant
.
In 2012, more than half of the listed properties got rehabilitation grants totaling about $5 million.Reach Tony Gonzalez at 615-259-8089 and on Twitter @tgonzalez.

THESE GUYS ARE NOW AT EYE-EAR-NOSE-LUNG LEVEL TO US NOW, less than 40' away and working away on some of our disputed property. The constant noise is deafening. We have no quiet enjoyment or quality-of-life at this point.

This is what happens when far too much development is allowed on a half-postage stamp of land in a dense residential neighborhood, with no real accountability from Metro, the Metro Planning Commission or Metro Council. Abe's Garden is like the over-zealous step-sisters in Cinderella who try, try, try to fit their big feet into Cinderella's dainty Glass Slipper.

THIS IS WHY VOLUNTARY SELF-QUARANTINE DOESN'T WORK. No one who's been exposed to Ebola patients should be allowed to ride public transportation after returning to the US for a specified length of time.

Dr. Spencer initially lied about staying home until the police cornered him with his fabrications by checking his METRO and credit cards:

The city’s first Ebola patient initially lied to authorities about his travels around the city following his return from treating disease victims in Africa, law-enforcement sources said.
Dr. Craig Spencer at first told officials that he isolated himself in his Harlem apartment — and didn’t admit he rode the subways, dined out and went bowling until cops looked at his MetroCard the sources said.
“He told the authorities that he self-quarantined.

Detectives then reviewed his credit-card statement and MetroCard and found that he went over here, over there, up and down and all around,” a source said.
Spencer finally ’fessed up when a cop “got on the phone and had to relay questions to him through the Health Department,” a source said.
Officials then retraced Spencer’s steps, which included dining at The Meatball Shop in Greenwich Village and bowling at The Gutter in Brooklyn.

BELOW---THE WAY WE WERE IN 2013---OLD-GROWTH BOUNDARY TREES FOR QUALITY-OF-LIFE, PRIVACY, FLOOD CONTROL, AIR AND NOISE POLLUTION BUFFERS, AND PROPERTY VALUES

(ABOVE)EVEN WITH BEAUTIFUL BOUNDARY TREES 75-100' TALL AND 50-75 YEARS OLD, ON MAY 1, 2010 OUR RICHLAND CREEK WATERSHED---AND ALL OF NASHVILLE---sufferedthe worst flood in our city's history.

Below is a photo which I personally took on that fateful Sunday of massive flooding just down from our condos on Harding Road and the new environmental development next to us called Abe's Garden.

At the time of this huge 500-year flood, Abe's Garden had already obtained an SP Zoning from the Metro Planning Commission in 2008 but had yet to act on it. Interesting thing about a Metro Nashville SP zoning is that once it's granted, there is no accountability----ever---no matter how many changes a developer makes, no matter how long it takes to build. An SP zoning is like giving a developer a free pass FOREVER to a fox in a henhouse.

Fast forward several years to the spring of 2014 when Abe's Garden with its long ago-granted SP zoning comes blazing into our neighborhood with a free pass to do whatever it wants and put far, far too much development on a half-postage stamp of land (most of which is riparian or flood plain/ underdevelopable land. They are like Cinderella's step sisters trying to fit their big feet into the glass slipper.
From the start, we have had a boundary dispute with Abe's Garden which is going to court in early January, 2015. We think we have a good chance of prevailing.
Still we decided not to try to stop Abe's Garden from going on with its humongous development. They came in and cut down our boundary trees and then excavated our disputed property, not paying even a modicum of attention to our lawsuit.

But getting back to our flood control issues, overnight, our beautiful boundary trees were mowed down into mulch---all in the name of creating a garden for Alzheimers treatment. After all, they had the blessing of some big donors including Martha Ingram, various city officials---including former mayor and influence peddler Bill Purcel who wants to put his ailing mother in the development when it's finished. So with all these people behind them, what possible difference does it make to take our property and mow down all the beautiful trees?

Below, Abe's Garden plays god in West Nashville with its SP zoning and says it knows what's best for the neighborhood in spite of the protests. It says it's followed everything to the letter of the law and is happy to plant its neighbors a few ornamental trees---at great expense to them.
Gee, thanks to architect Maneul Zeitlin and owner Mike Shmerling. Can't wait to see what happens next.... Meanwhile, our trial begins in early January, 2015. We believe we have a good chance of prevailing, only time will tell.

Below, Abe's Garden decides to mulch the neighborhood greenway and flood runoff protection to make room for its idea of a 'garden'.

Meanwhile, our quality of life, privacy, wind, water, noise breaks, our soil quality and our property values have been shattered and for now there's nothing we can do.
As far as flood control: since Abe's Garden mowed down the neighborhood's best flood control and soil stabilizer when it destroyed our big trees, we can only hope we don't have another gargantuan flood anytime soon. Somehow, I don't think Abe's tinkering with flooding and water runoff mitigation will make any of us in West Nashville feel secure with its superficial fixes that they can tell their big donors about.

Below, Abe's flood mitigation down by the creek in the riparian zone...flood control? Cut down all established trees then put in a large concrete culverts and some plastic signs saying Do Not Disturb! That should do it.

This storm sewer with the pond Abe's promises to build will only make flooding faster and more furious into the Richland Creek watershed a few feet below the drain. The flooding and run off will only be worse, and much faster.
Truth is, we will ultimately solve our boundary dispute in the next few months and plant large trees to begin to repair the horrific damage to our neighborhood. But in truth, the larger city of Nashville and its quality of life is the biggest loser when developers like Abe's Garden and Mike Shmerling have its way with us.

Below, instead of trees, we now have a sign which is supposed to make us feel better. What a joke.
Do not disturb?! There's nothing left to disturb after Abe's has destroyed the natural environment we have enjoyed here for 30-50 years.

This is what happens when there's no accountability for developers when an SP zoning permit is granted by the Metro Planning Commission and kept in place by the likes of influence peddlers like Bill Purcel.

God willing, I and my neighbors will recover from this horrific environmental disaster that has been inflicted on our neighborhood by Abe's Garden. But Nashville may not with developers like Abe's having its way with lax SP zoning permits and zero accountability after they're permitted. Shame on the light-weight city of Nashville and Metro Planning Commission.

But take heart, at least one other environmental disaster and waste of taxpayers' monies has been averted for now in Nashville.... Praise God! And thank you Lee Beaman...who is the de facto leading conservative in this city. When Lee is against something, it's not likely to succeed, and Lee was majorly again the AMP boondoggle.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SONGS ON OUR NEED FOR GOD AND HIS GRACE EVER WRITTEN

WE ALL NEED JESUS CHRIST IN OUR LIVES. ALL. Blessed is the man or woman who knows this. We're all sinners in need of a Savior. All of us are sinners. All. Blessed is the one who knows this and lives with Jesus Christ as the Center of his or her life. Salvation is a free gift and the only place any of us can ever be truly free or can find any deep rest. This is the essence of the Good News, the Gospel. It is all. It is everything.

Amen and amen.

Romans 3:9-20:

Romans 3:9-20English Standard Version (ESV)

No One Is Righteous

9 What then? Are we Jews[a] any better off?[b] No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;11 no one understands;no one seeks for God.12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;no one does good,not even one.”13 “Their throat is an open grave;they use their tongues to deceive.”“The venom of asps is under their lips.”14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;16 in their paths are ruin and misery,17 and the way of peace they have not known.”18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.20 For by works of the law no human being[c] will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

HAVE BEEN BREATHING CARBON MONOXIDE FUMES FROM THE EAST COAST FOR OVER A WEEK. Loved every minute. But today it was time to leave.

There's absolutely no where I love to hike when on the road than where the Appalachian Trail (AT) crosses I-81 near Fincastle, VA north of Roanoke. It doesn't get any better. A 5 mile hike with more than 1,000' elevation gain cleans and clears body, mind and spirit, if you can strategically plan getting to the trailhead early enough.
.
Today was cool, crisp, sunny and breezy and I was ready for the fall climb. What more can one ask for? Except time to give thanks to the great Creator for His amazing spectacle.

Here's a map for anyone who wants to see exactly where this fabulous trail is off the Interstate. Very quickly you get away from the maddening crowds and into the natural world.
And Friday, another great hike with a group I love to hike with from Tri-Cities, Tennessee:

Well worth a read, especially in calling out Hillary Clinton on her public disconnect of 'championing the rights of women' by allowing her serial philandering husband---which she knew of long before she married him---an almost free pass in the Lewinsky scandal:

All of this left Hillary Clinton — the supposedly great defender and protector of all women everywhere forever and ever Amen– in a terribly awkward position. She knew her husband was a serial philanderer. Six months earlier Kathleen Willey had accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault and there was also the 12-year affair with Gennifer Flowers and another with Paula Jones and probably others. But Mrs. Clinton had a presidency to save and her own political future to think about so there wasn’t a lot of time to think about a 22-year-old young woman who had been taken advantage of by the most powerful man in the universe. Feminism and all the implications of what it really means to defend the rights of women and that whole glass ceiling business would have to wait.
In public Hillary played the victim....

She appealed to viewers of the Today Show on her husband’s behalf, blaming the “vast right wing conspiracy” for all the scandals plaguing his presidency.

Behind the scenes, Hillary was the mean girl....There are several other instances in the Blair Papers of Hillary Clinton ridiculing and demeaning women who had been sexually harassed. She even at one point dismisses grassroots groups who were seeking to expand women’s rights because “those grassroots groups didn’t count for much; it was the DC groups who would be doing damage.”
And, of course, there was the 27-year-old Hillary Clinton who secured a plea deal for a man who raped a 12-year-old girl. The Washington Times released a tape earlier this year of Hillary cackling as she was interviewed about the case. Hillary suggests in the interview that she knows the man was guilty. Nevertheless, part of her strategy for winning the case involved smearing the (female) victim — calling her a liar.

ALWAYS INTERESTING TO BE ON THE EAST COAST WITH THE LOCALS TO SEE WHAT PEOPLE ARE REALLY TALKING ABOUT OVER DINNER, DRINKS AND AT PARTIES.

This trip is no exception. It sure didn't take me long to observe what's at the top of everyones' conversation list this fall: The new (really old as it was written in 1991) opera---The Death of Klinghoffer---just opening at the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan Monday night for a month run.

Of course I had no opinion on the subject as I---a cultural un-elite from the land of The Grand Ole Opry---wasn't even aware such an opera existed, let along the monumental firestorm it's been stirring up on the east coast. I had never heard this controversial opera, of all things. One where people of all persuasions are hot under the collar calling it among many other things antisemitic, historically incorrect and a gross over-simplification of the horrible terrorist attack on a cruise ship the Acilli Lauro, in the Mediterranean by the Palestine Liberation Front in 1985. Leon Klinghoffer was a Jewish passenger on the ship who was shot in the back of the head before being pushed overboard in his wheelchair by the terrorist thugs.

Since I have not seen the opera and being much more pro-Israel than pro-Palestine and certainly anti, anti terrorist (and legitimizing these radical Islamic thugs), I can only read the news and reviews and comment briefly: As a strong First Amendment proponent, I probably will never see this opera---but would in fact try to set the record straight on any historical inaccuracies that exist---which former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is doing in fine protester form. However, I do believe it has the right to be produced in New York and anywhere else that's willing to take on the controversy.

Some say the opera gives the voices of terrorists a sympathetic ear, and that may be so. Certainly the fact that its author John Adams lives in Berkeley makes me suspicious. Still, for those who want to discover, engage and refute the operas main points and issues, it might be a festival of critical thinking into recent history. That's undoubtedly why so many cultural elites are talking about it.

Remember, the First Amendment guarantees we all will offended early and often, and often besieged with fantasy masking as truth and half-truth and narratives that are used to bludgeon the opposing side and insert politic correctness to rewrite history. Our Constitution doesn't protect us from poor taste, false narratives and a lack of judgment.

Would I support this opera with my money or my time? Absolutely not. Would I defend the Met's decision to produce it however objectionable? Yes, I would. Would I support any donor especially Jewish ones for no longer making the Met the object of his or her philanthropic largess? Absolutely I would.

Let the chips fall at the Met where they may, after The Death of Klinghoffer. This opera is a quickly passing fad and will fade away soon.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

THESE FINE YOUNG SOLDIERS, GENTLEMEN AND SCHOLARS ---WESTPOINT GRADUATES--- LIVE AND WORK TO KEEP AMERICA SAFE AND SOUND.

How lovely to talk to them all tonight at this gathering. One had three limbs blown off in Afghanistan. Yet today, meeting him, you might never know he has any disability whatsoever. He refuses to be a victim.

In the end, both men----Larkin and David along with Larkin's beautiful wife Rachael--- have a love and dedication to our country far greater than most of us could ever image or fully appreciate. These young people are the best of the best that America has to offer. It was such a pleasure seeing them all tonight. May God bless them and America greatly.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

BEING CONFRONTED WITH A KILLING VIRUS AND DESPERATE ISOLATION ON TOP OF IT CAN'T BE EASY FOR ANYONE. Add to that, this young nurse saw the frightening ravages of Ebola up close as she cared for Mr. Duncan before he died.

Let's pray for Nina as she's transferred to the NIH in Maryland, near where I've just arrived, as well as for all people worldwide struck with this horrific, life-threatening and alienating disease.

I do believe Nina will be okay with her good care and recent blood transfusion. Her tears are healing and release many toxins and stresses.

Meanwhile, there are many, many others who need our constant prayers who may not fare so well. Please join me in lifting them and their loved ones all up to our merciful God..

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

MARKETS HAVE TAKEN OUT AUGUST LOWS, and now heading lower as the VIX---volatility index---has spiked. Today's market is probably not going to be the humongous crash of 2014---that comes in a later year---but certainly a substantial correction. Time to tighten up those stops and sit tight. As we say in the fly fishing world, tight lines!

Saturday, October 11, 2014

THIS IS AN EXTRAORDINARY PIECE, WELL WORTH READING AND CONTEMPLATING. It is also the inverse of today's silly political and spiritual correctness. Amen and Amen:

By Dr. David Pence

When 42-year-old Omar Gonzalez ran across the White House lawn on
September 19, 2014, he entered the front door and overpowered the female
guard on duty. He, then, was able to penetrate deep into the mansion
before a man tackled him and stopped the intrusion. We don’t know all
the details, but the fact that the vanquished guard was female was soon
removed from the stories of major newspapers. Anonymous White House
spokespersons said her gender was irrelevant. The first-ever female head
of Secret Service who resigned last week got her promotion the
old-fashioned way -- when a sex scandal removed a host of men from the
service and she was selected to give the agency “credibility.” Was her
failure to protect, and the female watchman’s lapse, a quirk of fate or
the fitting fruit of our age?The same God who endowed humans with the gift of life has also
hard-wired our social nature to protect life in the face of danger and
evil. The God of Nature and History knew there were both evil spirits
and natural dangers. So, in fashioning humans, He imprinted us with the
ability to form bonds of love and protection. He made motherhood and he
made male protective groups. Males form protective groups to act in a
contested world of foes. Our national love of pro football is an
emotional testimony to this historical reality -- even during the silly
weeks of the season when the warriors are forced to wear pink.The great generational error of American public life has been the
banishing of God as the primal social glue of the nation, and the
deliberate inversion of the sexual protective order. Like many American
errors, this started with an excess of good intentions and ended with a
tyranny of thought-control enforced with a maze of regulations. We
thought by banishing God we were respecting the religious liberty of the
atheist; and by banishing sexual differences we were completing the
civil rights movement, this time for the “sexually oppressed.”But the American order which set men free for the highest of loves has
been perverted. The God we are meant to serve has been banished from
places of public honor. His name is everywhere taken in vain. Public
thanks to God -- the most natural and human of all activities -- has
been outlawed as coercion of atheist bystanders. The liberty of publics
to acknowledge the Living Presence of God -- a shared practice that
distinguishes us from chimps -- has been sacrificed to an autonomous
individual who will not honor God when others do.When men lose their sense of the sacred Other, we soon lose our general
ability to make fundamental distinctions -- most notably the sacred
differences between men and women. A man who has lost his awe of God
will be baffled by covering the female as a religious sign of purity and
the interior life. To paraphrase Saint Paul to the Romans: when men
substitute their wisdom for God’s, then men will become so disoriented
as to lie with men as though they were women. Our sexual confusion was
preceded by our loss of the Sacred. It further turns out that sexual confusion is very dangerous.
Or as my daddy used to say, “When men lose their headship to the
tribe’s women, they will eventually lose their heads to another tribe’s
men. “Different tasks require different kinds of communal association.
Breast-feeding calls for a mother and child; procreation, a husband and
wife; and social protection is best done by a male group, often a very
large group. Men excel at forming large groups because brotherhood is
fed by task completion, not by intimacy. To safeguard a culture of life,
we must rebuild a culture of protection. We do that by honoring
motherhood, and reconstructing the multicolored masculine brotherhood of
American men. Consider these three arenas where the masculine bond is
the missing answer to social breakdown.

Friday, October 10, 2014

BLACKIE LOVES THE EASE OF JUMPING IN AND CLIMBING ON. Now, if only it would stop raining, so I could drive us in my old Ford Explorer backup car to the put-in. Maybe tomorrow we'll get a break, big black cat.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

I'm not going to post what happened today because if I do, someone might be gone. I and we have only wished the construction crew at Abe's the best...After all, they have a job to do and have nothing to do with our boundary dispute. We a have never tried to stop your constuction.

But They crossed the line with me today and were very abusive using foul-mouthed language on our Royal Oaks property. Time to get a grip. This thing needs to work itself out in the courts and Abe's and Mike Shmerling should not EVER be put you fellows in the middle of this. Don't take the bait. This is not your hill to die on, guys. Let Abe's Garden fight their fight, and win or lose fair and square rather than put any of you in the middle.

Below, Abe's construction men trespassing on our land speaking in unacceptable language. Having their way with us weekly and acting as if, well, they arrogantly owned the place---our place!

IT'S A GREAT INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE STORY THAT WILL MOMENTARILY DIVERT YOUR ATTENTION FROM ENDLESS EBOLA, BEHEADING AND FERGUSON STORIES.
It's all about the Elgin Marbles caper. And if you don't know what the Elgin Marbles are, then take a little time to click the link and find out.

So you can read about this cultural adventure here. And when you're finished, you can decided whether this is a liberation, as from the British Museum in London back to Greece, or just another case of legal immigration with no merits.

Monday, October 6, 2014

THIS IS A HOPEFUL STORY FROM THE WSJ about how the Bridgestone/Firestone management team met around a table, strategized, then took action.

So far, so good using money, manpower and organization at hand:

BY DREW HINSHAW

FIRESTONE, Liberia—As Ebola exploded here this year, a rubber farm embarked on a crash course on how to tame an epidemic that has killed thousands of people and derailed governments across West Africa.

One morning in March, when the first case arrived at the Liberian unit of Japan’s Bridgestone farm, managers sat around a rubber-tree table and googled “Ebola,” said Ed Garcia, president of Firestone Natural Rubber Company LLC. Then they built two Ebola isolation clinics, using shipping containers and plastic wrap.

They trained their janitors how to bury Ebola corpses. Their agricultural surveyors mapped the virus as it spread house to house, and teachers at the company’s schools went door-to-door to explain the disease.
“It was like flying an airplane and reading the manual at the same time,” said Philippines-born Mr. Garcia, who runs this 185-square-mile stretch of rubber trees.

Six months later, Firestone has turned the tide of infections, offering a sanctuary of health in a country where cases are doubling every three weeks.
Ebola’s broader threat was illustrated on Monday, when a Spanish medical worker tested positive for Ebola after treating an Africa-based missionary who had been infected with the virus and flown to Madrid, officials said. It was the first suspected transmission outside West Africa.

The virus could flare again at Firestone. But as of last week, not a single known infection was left among the company’s 8,500 employees and their 71,500 dependents.

The company’s Ebola clinic, which boasts amenities such as ceiling fans, was empty last Wednesday. The head doctor, expressed relief that his staff didn’t risk being infected by a mistaken needle prick.

An hour’s drive from here, in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, clinics are
packed, and scores are dying daily. The difference isn’t that Firestone
applied any breakthrough tactics in fighting a virus first identified
four decades ago, health experts and company officials said. It is that
the rubber company had the money, manpower, and organization to tackle
an epidemic that several sovereign West African governments found
bewildering.
More than 3,400 people have died in West Africa according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.

Many times that number have died at home, infecting their families
without entering a clinic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said. Every hour, five people in Sierra Leone are infected,
said British charity Save The Children last week.
While the viral infection has exposed how weak health care in West Africa is,
it has also revealed a widening gulf between the facilities of these
governments and the resource companies on which they depend.

A
14-year-long war left both this nation and the Firestone rubber farm in
ruins. A decade later, it is Firestone that has rebuilt.
The contagion has escalated beyond what West African governments can
manage. Troops and medics from the U.S. and U.K.—even tiny Cuba—have
arrived to help build and staff clinics. The Ebola epidemic is edging
toward the borders of Mali, Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast, said health
experts, another trio of countries recovering from civil wars.
Ebola is now in every county of Liberia. It is also just across the river
from the Firestone farm, as the company’s president illustrated by
dragging a laser pointer along a map. “There are villages here that are
getting wiped out,” Mr. Garcia said.

As Spain reports the first case of ebola contracted
outside of West Africa, how can the disease be stopped from spreading?

Nearly a century ago, at the dawn of the automobile age, Liberia staked its future on rubber. The men who governed this land, descendants of freed American slaves, took out huge
debts to Firestone. Here in Africa, they hoped to erect a modern,
industrial republic, modeled off America.
Instead, Liberia fell into insolvency, then, in 1989, a civil war. It ended 14
years later with 250,000 lives lost. A third of the population fled,
according to the United Nations, and those who returned found a country
plundered.

Many bombed-out government buildings were left roofless.
Firestone’s company hospital sat roofless, too, when its managers returned to the
property at war’s end. Even the elevators had been looted from their
shafts. Trees had been so poorly cared for that the farm, the world’s
biggest contiguous rubber plantation, may not return to its 1989 output
until 2032, said Mr. Garcia.

And yet the Firestone plantation a decade later is, in some ways, a microcosm of
the America in Africa Liberia’s founders had envisioned. In a country
where children walk to school over muddy paths, high-school students
here board big yellow school buses, winding over country roads.
Electricity flows from a private dam. Water towers, telephone poles,
speed-limit signs and brick homes—all exceedingly rare in tropical
Africa—stare out over mowed hillsides that resemble the landscape
outside Nashville, Tenn., where Firestone’s head office is based

The ultimate promise when all else fails: Paul writes in Romans 8:28---And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

No matter what the odds, God keeps his promises. We all have problems and the key is to focus on God's promises, not our circumstances. Clearly, for me and most believers I know, this is often easier said than done.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

IT WASN'T JUST THE ROYALTY OR 600 ADORING SERVANTS/STAFF LINING THE VILLAGE STREETS or the precious casket or beautiful fresh flowers---surely there were some Welch corgis running helter around--- that made this funeral so charming. It was the entire scene and happening, completing a long life in the countryside of England of the Dowager Duchess, of Devonshire, 93, and last of the Mitford sisters.
She extolled the virtues of country living, and what can I say, but I totally agree with her
.
Such a lovely way to be laid to rest.
MEANWHILE OUR DISPUTED LAND IN THE CITY AND THE ONGOING TRESPASS BY ABE'S GARDEN BELOW:If you don't like the boundary dispute, then just destroy all the trees, excavate and destroy the ground away! Then say they couldn't do anything about it.

About Me

I'm a southern Christian conservative with a degree in civil & environmental engineering and a passion for the truth of God's Word, writing, hiking, investing, fly fishing, cooking and the great outdoors. My favorite tech invention = spellcheck. There are no such things as rights without responsibility, a free lunch, cheap grace, man-made climate change, successful government engineering, or figuring out when life begins. We're hurling towards the abyss with only One Life-Line: it's not botox, a "living" Constitution, celebrity president, or making nice with Iran. Meanwhile, God gave us His Word, His Son, Grace Upon Grace, family/friends and the greatest country in the world to live--if we can keep it. E-mail: webutante07 at gmail dot com. Thanks for coming by.

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine!